1.19.13
on October 26, 2022
at 3:00 am
c’mon bro you can tell me if you experienced an inciting incident I won’t tell mom
Aurora
A fantasy webcomic. Updates M-W-F.
c’mon bro you can tell me if you experienced an inciting incident I won’t tell mom
Aurora Question #3: Out of the cities we know about, which one would you want to live in?
vash, it sounds the most chill
it’s also dead and buried though
I’d like to live in the forest, it seems more chill than any of the towns
Tess, the unrelenting sibiling
For mobile readers.
Alt-text: the kind of bad that makes me… ✨prettier✨
Image source: bad
Weird Al Yankovic, officially canon in the Aurora-verse
UWWBBABBABBWIWBUWBBUWBBWBUWUBBUWABUBUAWBUAWBUBUWUBWABUBUWBUBUWA
hope this explains
The paneling is just- it conveys what’s happening so perfectly! (Obvious alert) I can clearly tell that those panels are flash backs, and I can also imagine the transitions that’d be out between them if it was animated.
Red!s hella good at paneling
YES!! Thank you! We know why she came looking! They’re having the talk!
Oooh boy let’s add this entire page to my Erin conspiracy board.
@Question Master
Windcrest. It’s real scenic and the only one that isn’t in ruins or have any amoral mages/gods
More hints at Erin’s backstory… one day, we’ll get the full picture. One day…
Interesting to see that Tess was evidently in one of the Ignan settlements before she went to go fetch Erin… it’s unlikely that she would have known about Dainix beforehand, but one can still speculate!
“You haven’t told them what the monks did for you,”
Tess tells her brother once they’re alone.
“If you take them to the monks, they’ll find out for sure,”
She warns what he must have known.
“Erin, I came looking for you because Al called me
He hadn’t heard from you since you went into the Storm.
Mom was getting worried,” she adds,
And in the fight he lost control, while she was crushed in a hole.
“Something happened to you in the Storm,” she states. “And you need the Monks
To fix it before anyone finds out.”
He hangs his head. “How bad is it?”
He shows to her the dragon’s mark, without a moment’s doubt.
Sorry if I’m late, the alt-text paralyzed me with laughter for a while.
okay so there’s definitely something going on with Erin and these Soulshaper Monks. My current theory is his Father paid the Monks to make baby Erin into the Elemental Magus by opening soul channels that wouldn’t normally have opened, and that’s why he uses the tattoos to cast his magic.
But if it were possible to create an Elemental Magus that way, then wouldn’t the Academy have way more of them? It’s a bit out there.
OH WAIT FALST IS RIGHT THERE. RIGHT THERE. HE CAN HERE EVERYTHING THEY SAY. OH BOY.
This is what I like about Tess, she may be a himbo with a passion, but she’s not a himbo because she’s dumb. She’s actually super smart and good with people, she just also likes punching stuff
I’d say Kendal’s the himbo, not Tess
Tess has figured out the best
Bits, so Erin’ll fill in the rest
Tess: … You found an Ancient tattoo parlour in the storm, and now you’re regretting the job they did?
The mystery of Erin’s past with the monks and his elemental links remains, but, as Tess says, it will be revealed no later than when they get to the monastery. Maybe before that even if a situation on their travel calls for it.
Al, there’s a new name; I wonder what his deal is with the Ruunasers. Loyal butler to their estate ala Batman’s Alfred? Friendly lecturer at the mage academy? Another Ruunaser family member? Could be anything.
Art wise I must say, I love that touch with the rain in Tess’s flashbacks. Not only does it look good but the raindrops are falling in the proper direction relative to where Tess was looking. It’s a nice detail.
Yeah, even if Tess didn’t see Erin in that state, she still would have been very suspicious at least; if anyone can read Erin like a book, it’s her. I get the feeling we’re in for a scene change so the exposition can be off-screen and we follow up on the rest of the gang.
To answer question master, probably the one town gleicann hangs out near, though I would consider vash
Lets be honest, Tess is little grumpy about Erin disappearance interrupting her from having her bagel
This is major evidence for the ‘monks made Erin the Magus’ theory and I am screaming inside
“As bad as it gets. I face a terrible dilemma: I cannot have both manly chest hair and a badass dragon tattoo at the same time!”
“I’m a walking apocolypse.”
I had been wondering for some time if Erin was maybe not born the elemental magus. He’s overly reliant on his tattoos, he needs to touch them to cast, something that other mages don’t seem to need to do. When Falst referred to him having been as the elemental magus as a kid Tess seemed confused. And now the soulshaping monks did some mystery thing to him. His “greatest secret” apparently. My suspicions are increasing.
Ouch! Oh my goodness, Erin’s expression in that last panel! I want to hug him! They all need SO many hugs!
So that’s what a communication lacrima looks like! Well, the long-range, paired, instantaneous version anyway, not the borb version. They were mentioned by Magistrate Luran all the way back in chapter 4.
Yet more evidence of Tess spending a disproportionate amount of time around Ignans… curiouser and curiouser. Did a community of them save her from a really bad situation? Did she learn to control her magic under one? Does she just think they’re neat? Some mixture of the above? Something else entirely? What is this??
The fact that Erin is willing to tell everyone the situation with The Void Dragon before he tells anyone besides Tess the situation with the soulshaper monks is not just pragmatism; obviously everyone needs to know why they’re going all the way to Helm to fix this. But regarding his past connection with the monks, Erin is avoiding and downplaying the topic as much as possible. There is a deep shame rooted there, and since I subscribe to the “Erin was born with incomplete/malformed elemental links” school of the Erin Backstory Conspiracy Board, I think that deep shame might be imposter syndrome.
There once was a girl chosen by lightning
Who finds what happened frightening.
She questions her brother,
Overheard by another–
His answers are somewhat enlightening.
I’m starting to think that Erin wasn’t born the Elemental Magus. Maybe he shaped his soul to become a mage so he could leave home and avoid his father?
It strikes me that if the soul-shapers can close off mage channels by accident as a side effect of other changes (as discussed with Dainix), then they could also do it on purpose. That’s at least one way out for Erin — close off one or more of his mage channels, and he suddenly isn’t the Elemental Magus anymore, and no longer a usable pawn for the Void Dragon. All it would cost is his entire career and identity…
TL;DR: Stop it with the sibling secrets, we all know you have *something* going on.
@Question Master
The first one Ali and Kendal went to, where Ali frew a huge tree. The one with the bat kid.
Hmm. Tess calls Mrs. Ruunasser “Mom”. That, plus the generally positive way she referred to her when she was expositioning to Falst and Alinua and the fact that she knew how to contact Tess while she was on the road, makes me think that Tess has a good relationship with each Ruunaser except Galen.
time for yet another explanation of “boy howdy ive got somthing weird inside my chest”
okay okay cool lore but can I get a bite of that bagel tho
All jokes aside, the stuff this is bringing up is VERY interesting. I support the theory that some other commentors have put forth: Erin was born with incomplete or malformed elemental channels, and the Monks helped fix them. As some other people have already said, we can quote Tess in saying “Erin used to [faint] all the time.” and a post from Red that they linked confirms that the symptoms of damaged soul links do indeed include fainting.
(Credits to all those smort brain people who put this together, I’m just spreading the word- although you most likely saw them last page.)
Anyway, this page all but confirms that theory, because the theory that Erin or his parents got the Monks to turn him into an Elemental Magus entirely from scratch can be discounted by the fact that the channels have to actually BE there already to be altered in any way.
As to what Erin plans to do when he gets there: I’ve seen some people saying that he’ll close off one of his elemental channels so that the Void Dragon can no longer use him to destroy the Adamant prison, but I think y’all are forgetting that Erin is a Certified Hubris Man (TM). What I think he’ll do is first attempt to break or alter his direct link to the Void Dragon, and he’ll try everything before he gives up and takes the other route. Of course, Walter will not be pleased about this and will attempt to stop him, probably possessing him again in the process. The Monks might also take one look and decide this is too far outside their comfort zone to tackle, in which case I have no idea what our band of protags would do. I know one thing for sure though, we haven’t seen the last of the Dragon.
Speaking of which, where is the Light Dragon’s vessel/emissary? Get over here Michael we’re getting worried bro
Honestly I might sound like a bit of a broken record but we haven’t seen him since… what, Chapter 7? Something like? I really want to see his dynamic with Erin- whatever that turns out to be, I’m sure it’ll be fun to watch.
Alleyyy, I think there have been hints what will happen next all through the time they have been in the city of Zuurith. I think will see characters show up in the city again but no promises which will show up.
Do you think Tess will figure out that Erin is actively collecting people who can kill him if they need to?
Also, I really want to see the scene where Erin does his big backstory reveal to the whole gang, and at least one of them has already figured it out just from the few hints he dropped.
“Wait, you already knew?! Why didn’t you say anything?”
“Well, you seemed like you didn’t want to talk about it, so…”
Tess and Erin looking unreasonably pretty in those last two panels
also, I’ve been loving the juicy character interactions on the last few pages. they’re always good, but they’ve really been shining recently
@Saga On a related note, I wonder how she’ll react to Falst being the obvious outlier among them.
…wait wait wait… DID I MISS THE PART WHERE TYNAN PUT TESS IN A CRATER!?
@Zer0 W0lf Hah! Falst is going to end up being the Batman of this team – the least super-powered member who nonetheless manages to be one of the most useful and resourceful. They need to keep him around for his common sense if nothing else.
Tess I love you <3
@tesserox when she and kendal went for a ride on Tynan (Phase 2) and the Void Dragon came out to play, both Kendal and Tess had to jump off or were thrown off, after which Alinua went to heal Kendal, and Tess landed somewhere (in a crater of her own making)
also i wonder if the SoulShaper Monks can temporarily seal Erin’s channels? Dainix implied that his soul channels could have been unsealed, but preferred not to attempt it incase it affected his transition (trans king, btw). if that’s the case, could the monks seal one or more of Erin’s channels until they can find another solution? could they seal the ‘Void Channels’ and prevent VD taking control? either way, sealing some of Erin’s powers would be an excellent way to tie into the “My Powers Are Gone” trope, and maybe knock Erin down a peg for some humbling character development
@Darth Pseudonym
Pretty sure the specific channel he wants them to close is the void channel itself aka. get the void dragon out of him. Anything else would be a backup plan at best.
Ooooh, that’s why Tess cut off her “–but he was just a fragile kid” back in Zuurith when she was telling her history to Alinua and Falst. She realized Erin must not have told them he wasn’t born the Elemental Magus.
@TheUnknownGame – I agree. We’re looking at imposter syndrome, big time. Erin makes such a big deal about being the Elemental Magus, yet when you see how he actually is like as a student (taking wide-eyed, assiduous notes on Dainix’s transformation), he’s a completely different person, studious, eager to listen and learn.
Looks like Erin is the Elemental Magus because of the SoulShaper monks.
– Was it that Erin’s father, the Aseran ambassador, couldn’t have a son who was fragile, small, and ordinary — if bright?
– Or did Erin’s fainting spells prove to be a real danger to his health?
If Erin’s father was just seeking medical help from the SoulShaper monks, then Erin becoming the Elemental Magus might have been an unintended side effect. It could be all his magical channels were screwed up because they were all active: only someone with channels that are *really* screwed up would have that effect. And what Tess was talking about when she wanted Erin to just instinctively “feel” the magic of the storm is that kid!Erin had been toying with magic, and making himself sicker in the process. His insistence to Alinua that she follow due magical process did have the ring of personal experience.
Sort version: No way to build-your-own-elemental-magus unless the kid in question is a hot mess.
I went back and apparently Erin’s dad’s name is Galen. Maybe when Tess refers to “Al” she’s referring to him? Their mom was also brought up in the same lines, so it does make sense. 😀
Erins face in that last panel breaks my heart and I love it
It seems more and more plausible that Erin was born kind of a “defective” Elementall Magus (if you could make an Elemental Mags out of anyone, it’d probably have happened before – but someone who was *almost* one but not quite working sounds very plausible), with channels to all elements but them working badly or not at all, and needed the monks to open them all. Which is the kind of thing you probably want to keep on the DL when dealing with the nest of vipers that Asera sounds like.
AHHH! Erin looks so defeated! Poor baby!
Ah yes revelations
So, there are at least three siblings, place your bets on the ones we know about, oldest middle youngest child?
Based on dynamics, I’m going with Tess oldest, Erin middle and the mysterious Al youngest. Opinions?
@ Theory Cat – Two things
1. Red confirmed on her tumblr that Tess is older than Erin
2. Al might not necessarily be a sibling
Bit off the topic of the page, but its been eating at me for a little while.
Why did the Primordials pick a fight with Walter/Voidy/whatever in the first place? I mean, yeah, he was going to eat a star- but as far as I can tell, it was a star with no life-bearing planets around it at the time. Stars die every so often, why fight over this one? They could have just gone someplace else.
There’s a piece of the puzzle missing here. I can’t help but wonder if the conflict between the Void Dragon and his ‘Other’ started before he even realised it…
Oho! Another thumbtack on the wall to the “Erin was made the elemental magus/Erin had improper magical links for all the elements and needed them opened” theory! If either theory is true, I doubt he’ll hamper the journey to keep them, but I am curious what steps he’ll take to keep it, since I don’t think he’s the type to let his secrets be revealed without a fight
As EchotheFairy said, Tess is really socially smart. Based on the panel placement, it looks like she figured basically everything out but the specifics when he paralyzed himself, which is really fast considring she didn’t hear the voice change or see the eyeballs
@Reth_Shannar i think the main problem was that VD was eating every star one by one. he is the personification of consumption, of void. he’s a bottomless pit, a black hole, the personification of never being satisfied. if the Primordials left him to his own devices he would have eventually eaten up every star in existence. it’s plain coincidence that this star happened to be where they drew the line, i guess
although now that i think about it i actually kind of feel bad for VD. does he choose to eat because he’s destructive, or is he driven to eat because it’s his nature to be ravenous? can he die, or is he cursed to be hungry for eternity? is this some sort of karmic or cosmic punishment? it sounds somewhat Tantalean tbh
@Reth_Shannar Stars are sentient and Red said on Tumblr that they made the Primordials when they felt specific things. So Walter eating stars was like eating his parents or something.
No idea what the other’s deal is – they seem on again off again about of they’re enemies.
Also, MAGIC CELLPHONES? What are their limitations? Can you use them to talk to anybody with one? Are they made in pairs or something? Is that Tess’ phone or did one of the ignans have it and they received a call for her because she was nearby?
@icarusancalion
You actually put forth an excellent point that I had not thought of before. Tess’s line “Feel it. Like when we were kids,” Seems to be another tally in the columb of the “Erin had sucky soul channels” theroy, because thole with malformed soul channels are also prone to react badly with changes in the elemental feild. Since Erin had all elements and all of them were presumably broken, then he would be fainting a lot. Poor boy.
Now this makes me think of just. Tiny Erin fainting, and Tess just being like ‘oh, I guess a storm is coming’ and keep going about her day like nothing happened.
(also some general thoughts on the page because I really like this page)
Who is Al? Since Erin’s dad’s name is Galen, it would be super funny if Tess refuses to call him anything other than Al. Iconic.
Tess is shown to have a lot of experience travling the world slaying monsters, so it would make sense that she’s met paladins before. That means she’d recognise the symbol, even vaugely. Food for thought.
Nice long-range wind lacrima! Wonder why Erin hasn’t called the Academy or anything. Would be pretty easy for him to come up with some kind of excuse to not return for a while, considering the news about the storm dissapearing would reach the Academy pretty quickly.
Gosh I misspelled a lot of stuff in my previous comment whoops.
Please forgive me if I haven’t been paying attention; is it Erin’s soul that’s possessed, or his body? Cause Walter can’t use Elm. Magus powers if Erin’s soul isn’t there to channel the elements, right?
@Orange Hoodie: Walter is possessing Erin’s body. I don’t think Erin will try to get rid of his soul, if that’s what you’re implying, but instead he will try to cut off his connection to walter. if he fails to do that his plan will probably be to close off one or more of his elemental links in his stead.
@Mellow Dee. Wait, if the monks made Erin the magus, and the magus was that only thing that could possibly free the Void dragon, that seems a little suspicious, could they be some sort of cult in league with VD? (TOTALLY UNSUBSTANTIATED HYPOTHESIS ALERT)
@Orange Hoodie @Eldritch V. isn’t it more that he’s forged a channel through Erin’s soul similar to his elemental links, allowing him to control Erin’s body and abilities?
Hence the use of soulshaper monks to attempt to close it off. Agreed that closing off an elemental link is likely his backup plan. I’ve been wondering if a worst-case-scenario plan would be to destroy his tattoos and destabilise his links as well; they seem like glaring weak points if he was rendered unable to heal them.
Actually nvm; as Walter can bypass the tattoos to cast, tattoo destruction probably wouldn’t stop him. Could still be a weak point for Erin, though.
@Question Master – OOooh hell yeah, more questions! hmmm…. you know, I think i’d honestly rather live in Vash, preferably pre-collector if possible but even still factoring it in, because I honestly just sounds really homey with the whole ‘the god knows and cares about everyone and cherishes individuality’ thing. Plus vash as a character is just cool and also seems like a really good god to live under, especially with the whole ‘heroic monsterslayer’ thing he’s got going on.
@Darth Psuedonym – absolutely love the theory that Erin and the monks might consider closing off one or more of his elemental links as the most efficient way of making Walter’s plans significantly harder to carry out at the very least, and even with the internal conflict of Erin being Erin and most likely not wanting to give up his title as elemental magnus, given what we saw of him in the caves i think he’d most likely opt for making life difficult for Walter instead, though there would definitely be hesitancy and alot of angst involved in making that decision, if it doesn’t already tie in to the whole ‘secret’ he’s keeping from the others about his past experiences with the monks, which given that it’s a bit of a wild card right now, is probably something that may throw a wrench in that plan as well, along with the Paladins making things incredibly difficult in their own unique way.
also, also, i absolutely cackled at the raw sibling energy from Tess here. Get’s me every time, but especially with the whole ‘I won’t tell mom’ thing
Honestly the constant jokes from Red in which the other members of the cast use the terms applied to protagonists are so nervous-making. Because the story could – really COULD – go on properly from here if Kendal straight-up died in the next couple pages.
Knowing that puts me in such a scary, uncertain place; one that isn’t common in fiction, because it’s rare the rest of the cast truly have enough going on to carry the whole damn story if the original protagonist dies.
“i got possessed by the main antagonist, but on the bright side i *did* get a sick ass tattoo”
Is… is anyone going to talk about how Tess is hanging out with some Ravvan (Dainix’s people) looking dudes?
@EldritchV: Idk what Erin’s plan is, because I don’t understand how he’s possessed, lol! What I do know is that Walt wasn’t channeling the other primordials on his own, and Erin can channel them because of the way magic is processed through the soul. That’s why I thought that maybe it was his soul that was possessed.
@Gwyfyn: That’d be a decent plan, if they can close a channel completely. Otherwise, yeah, Walt’s gonna have nerfed power in that one domain.
I like how Tess calls Erin’s mom “Mom” but not his dad, (because his dad is a terrible slave owner) it’s a neat touch
Ahh I get the feeling that Erin wasn’t always able to be a proper elemental magus or something considering Tess took issue with Falst insinuating he had that power to free her when they were kids, might explain the hunger and thirst for knowledge thing. Its also possible he had a backstory similar to Roswaal of being born with incredible capabilities for magic, not knowing about/how to use them leading to them running rampant on the body causing chronic pain which sabotages them in socialising and just about everything they want to do in life, would explain why his father resorted to slavery in order to get someone who wanted to play with him, twisted though that may be.